Showcasing Local Artists in Sand

REVERE (CBS) – Half a million people are expected to crowd onto Revere Beach this weekend for the ninthannual sand sculpture contest.

The event brings in artists from all over the world, but local man Michael Martelli of Revere is also participating in the event.

Martelli is an oil painter by trade, but he says he loves this event even though it’s a lot of work.

“The first day is probably the hardest day of the contest, the next three days are sculpting. Today is where you have to move all of the sand, put it into the form, put water with it, pack it all down. So you end up shoveling like 20 tons of sand, there is like 10 tons there but you have to move it and then you have to put it back. So this is the grueling part,” explains Martelli.

Martelli says oftentimes when he begins the competition, he only has a broad idea of what he’s going to sculpt.

“I just start sculpting and it comes out,” said Martelli.

You have to go with the flow when working with sand, according to Martelli, because it’s an uncertain medium and it can collapse and other unplanned things can happen while you are working.

One year, Martelli planned on completing a sand sculpture of Michelangelo’s David, but as he began to sculpt, things changed.

“Some lady walks over and says ‘oh that’s Elvis, that’s great.’ So I said this doesn’t look anything like David, but it does look like Elvis, so it turned out being Elvis,” said Martelli.

This year, the centerpiece of Martelli’s sculpture is Fenway Park-themed (pictured above), which has already completed. The remainder of the sculpture will be completed this weekend.

Full Story: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/07/11/annual-revere-beach-sand-sculpture-contest-showcases-local-artists/